4th Md. prison training veteran service dogs

Apr. 17, 2014 - 08:51AM
|

HAGERSTOWN, MD. — The medium-security Maryland Correctional Training Center near Hagerstown is becoming the fourth state prison where inmates who served in the military help train service dogs for disabled veterans.

Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Secretary Gregg Hershberger said Wednesday that the program helps incarcerated veterans pay society back. He says they also learn skills that could keep them from returning to prison.

The program began in 2012 at the nearby Maryland Correctional Institution. The maximum-security Western Correctional Institution near Cumberland the medium-security Eastern Correctional Institution near Westover were subsequently added.

The dogs arrive as puppies for 14 months of training by inmates before going on to finishing school.

Each dog is eventually teamed with a disabled veteran in a program run by America’s VetDogs of Smithtown, N.Y.